Magic Tools Are Selling Too Well

After the slogan “Defeat the demon race” became the banner of the continent, countless academies sprang up like bamboo shoots in various countries.
This was because there were far too few institutions capable of educating the number of heroes emerging each year.

Heroes are usually selected between the ages of 18 and 20.
Exceptionally, there are cases where they are selected at a very young age or later in life, but in most cases, they are selected within those three years.

The academy was a specialized institution that educated these selected heroes through a four-year undergraduate program and certified them to act as official heroes upon graduation.
When first selected as a hero, one lacks the knowledge and power to act as a full-fledged hero, so these blank slate heroes, or student heroes receiving education at the academy, were called ‘hero aspirants’.

Of course, there are ways to become a hero without graduating from an academy.
One can take separate certification exams in each country or work as an uncertified free hero.

In particular, heroes who graduated from academies had a mandatory contract to participate in the demon war when it occurred, according to the continental agreement, so heroes who disliked such constraints sometimes chose not to enter academies.
However, even considering such disadvantages, the benefits of studying at an academy were so numerous that most hero aspirants considered academy attendance essential.

The Apelice Imperial Academy.
Among them, this academy built in the Apelice Empire was a traditional hero training institution boasting a long history.
It was staffed with many theoretically excellent scholars and battle-hardened heroes with practical experience from the demon wars who taught the students.
It was the oldest among all academies on the continent and boasted the highest level of education.

Because of this, students from other kingdoms often came to study abroad to receive education at this imperial academy.

“……”

Ruen was one of those ordinary students who had come to study abroad in the empire.

She twirled the ends of her hair and looked at the seat next to her.
A man with messy silver hair was sleeping soundly, face down on the desk.

Why does he even come if he’s going to sleep through every lecture?

Ruen’s red eyes filled with a look of disdain.
Though she didn’t want to admit it, this man was one of only two friends she had at the academy.

“Lazy Sacher. Wake up.”

She shook Sacher’s shoulder, but he didn’t move except for her shaking.

Ruen let out a small sigh.
Actually, she knew he wouldn’t wake up.
Sacher was the type who needed to be hit hard on the head with an “oof” sound to wake up once he fell asleep like this.

“Hehe. Leave him be. He said he didn’t sleep at all last night making potions. It’s something that he’s not even late.”

Hearing a voice from behind, Ruen turned her head.

Wavy blue bob hair matching blue eyes.
Distinct features and a confident expression.
And an explosive… that looked like it might burst out of her school uniform top.

It was her friend Shunika, recognizable at a glance just from her upper body.

“Potions?”
“Yeah. He’s been working at the academy’s alchemy shop lately, right? He’s selling potions he made there, and they’re selling really well. People are lining up to wait. Sacher’s a total celebrity in the Swordsmanship Department now.”

She had heard that he started working at the alchemy shop.
He said it was a job he got when he was selected as a student assistant due to grade management issues, but she didn’t know he was doing such additional work.

Moreover, making potions.
Ruen was in the Magic Department, so she didn’t know the details, but she knew that potions were magical tools requiring a very high level of achievement in alchemy.

“…Potions are difficult, aren’t they?”
“What does it matter? Sacher’s a genius. He might even be secretly making golems somewhere on his own.”

Genius.
That’s right. Sacher was a genius acknowledged by all.

Unlike the external evaluations, the skills that got him the top score in the practical entrance exam hadn’t rusted at all, and the circuit analysis he showed in the “Understanding of Magic Circuits” class was enough to prove that he was also excellent in theory.
Although he was considered a good-for-nothing in the department due to his sleepiness causing him to completely waste his first-year grades, it was still an unchanging fact that he was a genius.

The realm of his talent wasn’t limited to his major, alchemy.
Sacher was a student with deep knowledge of mana itself.

Basically, alchemists and magicians share the same roots as magic circuits that enable the use of magic.
It was an obvious fact that a high understanding of mana leads to high achievement in alchemy.
Sacher was able to accurately calculate the used mana and its output value, and he had the ability to apply these theoretical aspects to practice.

For a hero aspirant attending the academy, this was indeed one of the most coveted talents anyone could wish for.

‘He probably can use combat magic well, not just alchemy magic…’

Although he had never shown it, Ruen was convinced that he could use other magic as well.

After all, he was still the son of a noble family.
If he had received early education from magicians in his family, it was entirely possible.

But the protagonist of all this was sleeping comfortably as if none of it mattered.

Ruen looked at him with a pathetic expression.

“Lazy Sacher.”
“Hahaha. In his own words, he’s not lazy, just sleepy.”

Shunika sat down next to Ruen and opened her book.

It wasn’t a particularly interesting lecture, but Shunika kept laughing.
Maybe it was because there weren’t many general education lectures where all three of them could gather due to their different departments.
Somehow, this time of attending class together was enjoyable.

‘Ah. Maybe it’s not together?’

One of them might be an exception since he treats the class like a lullaby rather than actually attending.

The [Low-grade Health Potion] I made was descending upon the Swordsmanship Department like a new civilization.

The best-selling [Low-grade Health Potion] at the alchemy shop was made by a researcher named Anika, but this potion was priced at 11 gold and performed slightly worse than mine.
On the other hand, my potion boasts the best performance among [Low-grade Health Potions].
And the price is the lowest at 10 gold!

Anywhere on the continent, cheap and good items are always popular.
The academy was no exception.
Even though I reduced my sleep and made 50 potions a day, they quickly sold out, probably because it was the practice season coinciding with the start of the semester.

It was only a matter of time before the news that my potions were selling well at the alchemy shop and that the alchemy shop’s business was doing well for a change reached the ears of the department head and faculty.

“Well, why didn’t you tell us that you could make potions?”

Dean Opert grabbed both my shoulders and looked at me as if he was proud.

Potion making is a high-level study that starts with the first practical in the third year of the department.
Before that, the priority was to learn and become familiar with various alchemy magic covering both production and combat categories.
The magical tools made in the second year were limited to basic stone types like [Warm Stone] and [Cool Stone].
In the first year, even earlier, they only learn theory.

Therefore, it was surprising that I, who had just finished my first year and become a second-year student, was making potions.
To some extent, I could understand why the dean was so surprised.

“Uh… you didn’t ask specifically?”
“Then can you make mana potions too? No, no. Tell me all the magical tools you can make now! Hurry!”

I felt an inexplicable madness in the dean’s overly excited appearance.
Isn’t it too much to ask an alchemist to reveal all their cards, even if they’re a student?

Among the magical tools I had made, there were some special ones that would surprise the world if revealed, but it was inconvenient to disclose everything when they weren’t even for sale yet.
I listed to the dean the magical tools that could be made at roughly the researcher level.

“Well… I can make most things. Health potions, mana potions, antidotes, and I know how to make things like exstones…”
“W-what? Exstone? Did you just say you know how to make Explosion Stones?!”

[Explosion Stone].
This stone, abbreviated as exstone, was the most basic yet also known as the ‘wall’ among alchemy department students – a love-hate magical tool among combat-exclusive tools made by alchemists.
This is because the treatment of heroes dealing with alchemy changes dramatically depending on whether they can make combat magical tools or not.

Exstones, which start their first practical in the latter half of the third year, were literally exploding stones.
However, when a high-level alchemist made an exstone in the orthodox way, its destructive power was so excellent that it was close to magic, and it was named after the high-level magic Explosion because the way it exploded was similar.

Of course, it’s not as powerful as to be compared with the actual destructive power of the Explosion magic.
Still, it was an anti-monster combat magical tool boasting excellent offensive power enough to take down ordinary monsters with just exstones.
Many alchemy department students often break down in the process of making exstones, even if they were following the academy’s curriculum well, which is why it’s called the students’ ‘wall’.

The dean seemed quite surprised that I, who had just become a second-year student, said I knew how to make such an infamous magical tool.

“E-enough! Finally, you’ve come to your senses! The alchemy department’s top prospect has returned!!”

Seeing him make such a fuss.
I held my head and prayed for this time to pass quickly.

…
…

After the storm-like dean show passed, Dean Opert and the department faculty came to me with a new proposal.

“Let’s change the conditions.”

They drastically changed the kind of contract terms that were set as conditions for accommodating my grades.

3 hours of work per day with an hourly wage of 1 gold!
Vacation can be requested as much as needed with the approval of the supervising professor, and the commission for selling magical tools is 10%, the same as other researchers.
And they increased the number of my magical tool items that can be displayed and sold to a total of five.

I liked the reduced working hours, but I was especially pleased with the last condition.
After the [Low-grade Health Potion] luckily did well, I had developed a desire to try selling various other magical tools.
Moreover, considering that researchers selling magical tools at the alchemy shop occupy two to three slots of items, I could see that this was an enormous privilege.

“Do you happen to have a separate workshop for making magical tools?”

Workshop.
It was a personal magical tool research lab that every alchemist who makes magical tools would want to have.
Outstanding alchemists all had their own workshops set up according to their circumstances, and the same was true for the professors in the alchemy department.

As an undergraduate student, I naturally didn’t have one.
No matter how financially comfortable I might be, I didn’t have the funds to build a workshop near the academy, which boasted crazy land prices.

As a temporary measure, I was making potions in my dormitory room.
As a result, my room was recently filled with a terrible smell due to drugs and ingredients.

“Then how about using the research institute’s workshop? I’ll have the 8th workshop empty every night at 9 PM. Besides that, you can use the institute’s workshop anytime if you apply to Professor Melaine.”
“Wow. Really?”

The very benefit I wanted most came out of the dean’s mouth.

The alchemy department’s research institute was an intermediate stage where senior hero graduates went to study more or to become professors.
It was equipped with basic materials and had an environment and facilities incomparably better than the department-exclusive workshop.

It was a sweet honey-like workshop for me, who made magical tools every day.

As soon as the conversation with the faculty ended, I hurried to the research institute’s workshop.
It’s on.
Today, it’s 100 mana potions.